Homework: The Lighter Side

Looking at some of the funny things I find when grading

· Taiwan,Taipei,TESOL,Living Abroad

Homework grading is actually sometimes a pleasure of mine. My kids all try hard, and so it’s usually quite easy. Plus I come across some answers that make me burst out laughing. And that makes the work all worth it.

Some are simple typos such as one of my kids mishearing the question “Do you hide money under your bed?” writing “Yes, I hide my mom under my bed.” others my kids answers of themselves to “What are you like?” “I am handsome, outgoing, and hilarious.” (No self-esteem issues there.)

One of my favorites was a phonics exercise with pictures. They had to choose “strip” and “rip.” The picture was a boy taking his shirt off (not one of the best questions on this test I will admit, I’ve judged the publisher a little…) The student correctly circled the phonic, but then found it necessary to draw a bra and lipstick on the boy.

Here are a few of my recent favorites:

When asked to finish the conditional sentence “I would go to Japan if…” this student answered the following. I’m not sure if it speaks to his opinion of Japan or his fear of natural disasters.

For this assignment, ​the students had 15 vocabulary words to make sentences with. One was “pregnant” and this lovely sentence came from it. I’m worried he thinks it’s okay to hit Mary once she has the kid….

When asked what things are connected to her computer at the moment this student listed 4. I googled the last one, having never heard of it, and it appears to be a Chinese version of the oboe. I’m still pondering how that would connect to a computer, but I’m going to go with it was a dictionary issue.